Smoke generation devices generate smoke in military applications for signaling, for marking target or landing zones, and for screening of movements. Devices for producing obscurant smoke for the battlefield are typically either explosively-charged, meaning the devices use an explosive charge to disperse fine particles, or chemically-reactive, meaning a chemical reaction generates smoke. Some chemically-reactive smoke generation devices utilize inorganic materials that are activated in a self-sustaining chemical reaction to produces smoke as a byproduct of the heat generation. Examples of these smoke generation devices are thermite grenades and the HC (hexachloroethane), TA (terephthalic acid), and WP (white phosphorus, or red phosphorus) smoke grenades in the current military inventory. The reactions in these devices have large free energies of reaction, and are by necessity exothermic. As such, the reactions produce considerable heat and toxic, or hazardous, compounds. Typical smoke-producing reactions produce much more heat than is necessary to sustain the reaction. The adiabatic flame temperatures of these materials greatly exceed 1000° C., which is one of the factors that leads to their incendiary characteristics.
Heat generation is an issue with either explosively-charged or chemically-reactive smoke generation devices. Traditional smoke generation devices are incendiary and can set cloth, fuel, ammunition and other combustibles on fire, and cause serious burns or death. What is desired is a smoke producing mixture that is capable of producing smoke while minimizing the incendiary and chemical hazards of present devices.